Mark Lawrence (bishop)

Mark Joseph Lawrence (born March 19, 1950, in Bakersfield, California) is an American bishop. He was the bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina from 2008 to 2012, and of the diocese now known as the Anglican Diocese of South Carolina from 2012 to 2022. In November 2012, under his leadership, a large portion of the old diocese withdrew from the national Episcopal Church to become an independent Anglican diocese. They continued to operate under the name "Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina", whose use was disputed by the national Episcopal Church. The Episcopal Church did not recognize this diocesan withdrawal, instead considering Lawrence to have abandoned the church and his position as diocesan bishop. Lawrence's diocese affiliated with the Anglican Church in North America in 2017 and in 2019 began referring to itself as the "Anglican Diocese of South Carolina".

According to the official website of the global Anglican Communion,^[1] the independent diocese under Lawrence's leadership is not a member of the communion.^[2] However, the steering committee of the Anglican Global South recognized Lawrence as bishop over a diocese "within the Anglican Communion" in December 2012 and recognized the diocese as part of the Anglican Global South in August 2014.^[3][4] Such disagreements over Anglican Communion membership have sometimes arisen in churches undergoing Anglican realignment. The status of the Anglican Diocese of South Carolina has been the subject of multiple state and federal lawsuits, some of which are still ongoing.